Middle school Model United Nations conferences and clubs have been growing worldwide in the past decade. Middle school students are showing an increasing curiosity about the world and interest in solving global issues. From our experience teaching them at the Model United Nations Institute, we also noted that they’re more fearless when it comes to public speaking and participating in debates!
Best Delegate reached out to a wide range of middle school Model United Nations conferences to hear what they think is noteworthy about the middle school Model UN schools and students in their community and to share examples of model middle school MUN programs below!
Montessori MUN: Best at Montessori Model UN (MMUN) means that through the collaborative experience at MMUN Conferences, delegates become better listeners, enhance their abilities to understand and respect the needs and interests of others and experience how to create solutions based on consensus. The award at MMUN is to become citizens of the world empowered with their voice and desire to make a difference in the world. Through the Youth Impact Forum, students move from simulation to implementation. All of these MMUN School have participated in the YIF program which provided the tools and resources, including access to mentors and funding to enable them to move beyond basic volunteer and service projects to real sustainable projects linking students with the UN SDGs and a network of youth leaders. Thus, these schools have embraced the developmental path from awareness and understanding of global problems to a sense of responsibility that leads to action.
MMUN recognizes these schools for their commitment to world citizenship, collaboration and their support to engage youth on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. They noted four middle schools that exemplified this in particular: School of the Woods (Texas), Montessori Palau (Spain), Mission Montessori (Arizona), and Kanata (Canada).
William & Mary Middle School MUN (WMIDMUN): WMIDMUN is one of the largest middle school conferences on the East Coast, and the only one (outside of NYC) that gives delegates a full weekend conference experience. Additionally, WMIDMUN also offers an entirely educational experience. With no awards given or even considered we are dedicated to the growth of our middle school delegates. Our focus is to teach them the basics of MUN, work on parliamentary procedure and their writing skills, and encourage critical thought about the world around them. While this is a bit unusual for a conference we find that it takes off the pressure for our many first time delegates and opens the door to fruitful debate. With two of our current secretariat members having been delegates at our conference when they were in middle school we are proud of our history of fostering growth through the opportunities provided at WMIDMUN.
Foundations for Leadership (FFL): Foundations for Leadership runs a middle school conference in Miami-Dade County and a middle school conference in St. Petersburg, Florida. They noted that middle schools come to their conference every year well prepared, win awards, and hold students to a high standard. Two schools in particular stood out: Miami Lakes Middle School and Archimedean Middle Conservatory.
Lifelink Friendship Schools: Lifelink Friendship Schools, a Model UN organization in Ghana, wanted to recognize Saps School. Saps School is located at Teshie Nungua, a suburb of Accra in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. Prior to and during the Lifelink Junior High School Model UN Conference 2018, the delegates from Saps School displayed an impeccable interest in everything about the Model UN. They were enthusiastic, resourceful and put in great effort that was clearly visible during the conference, leading them to obtain most of the awards.
Boston University Academy Model UN (BUAMUN): The school that has stood out to BUAMUN the most in their years of conducting the conference has been the Park School from Brookline, MA. This school has consistently shown their ability to negotiate and compromise while also maintaining a sense of diplomacy. Apart from this, their presentation style clearly shows thorough and deep research. A combination of these two factors and others has impressed the conference over the years.
Malaysian Model United Nations (MYMUN): MYMUN is a THIMUN-affiliated conference in Malaysia. They wanted to recognize Taipei American School (TAS) as one of the top schools that attended their conference. MYMUN noted that TAS sent strong chairs and delegates and were an easy and reliable school to work with. Their chair reports were strong and the resolutions the students came with were well prepared and used during debates. Overall they modeled how important it is that a school sends prepared, enthusiastic and engaged participants.
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It is incredibly exciting to see the growth of middle school Model United Nations programs worldwide! As we can see above, different middle school conferences emphasize different qualities that make the community very dynamic, ranging from having an impeccable interest in the world and a sense of responsibility that lead to actions to high standards in preparation and diplomacy.
Best Delegate is proud to have been teaching middle school students at the Model UN Institute, and we know there is so much more we can do to support and recognize the middle school MUN community in the future!
